


Love And Understanding

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [12]
Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Reality, F/M, Love, Prisoners, Quite a cute one for me!, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 02:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11266065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: Although Loki has asked Erika on a few occasions if she feels happy about her decision to come to live with him, he does not know the whole truth of the situation. He thinks they are simply living in the Southlands of the real Asgard, having come there to escape the harsh and unforgiving life they led back in the city. He does not realise the magnitude of Erika's sacrifice... because she will never tell him.Erika opens up a little about her feelings... and hopes with all her heart that Loki will manage to appreciate what she is trying to say.





	Love And Understanding

“Ouch! Watch what you are doing!”

“Oh don’t be such a sissy, Loki! Lean further over so I can get my fingers right into it!”

“You’re digging them in too hard! Is it really necessary? This is supposed to be a reasonably pleasant experience…”

“If you continue to moan like this then I will leave you to finish off yourself, Loki Laufeyson. It is quite hard work I will have you know.” Erika pushed Loki’s head further down and he groaned as his back was stretched even further. “This will teach you to go hacking through muddy fields on a young horse,” she said, “you are in an absolutely filthy state and you are not getting the bathroom dirty.”

“Please hurry up. It is quite chilly and I really would like to get in a hot bath after this to get myself clean…”

“I have fired up the boiler, do not fret. Now, close your eyes…”

 

Anyone watching the two of them and listening in on their conversation would have been highly amused to discover that one had once been a tyrannical and unpopular King of Asgard and the other had been his personal maid. From all appearances at the present moment, Erika and Loki were behaving like an irritated wife and her poor brow-beaten husband: Loki was stripped from the waist up and was currently enjoying a thorough wash in the trough near the stables, although ‘enjoying’ was probably not the most accurate of descriptions. It was more like ‘enduring’, for Erika was trying to remove a coating of mud, leaves and small twigs from his hair, arms and face which he had acquired after falling from an exhilarating late afternoon ride on a particularly spirited horse. She was being very business-like about the whole thing and the way in which she was rinsing his long dark brown hair was not really using the most gentle of techniques. To be fair to the girl, the water in the trough was exceptionally cold and she was getting nearly as wet as he due to it splashing everywhere.

 

Eventually she told him he was clean enough to go into the house, but that he had to go in through a small side door which led into a little utility room where all the outdoor equipment such as boots, hiking sticks, picnic blankets and so on were kept. It had a seat in there so that one could sit down to remove dirty footwear and clothing, and a large sink in which they could be deposited in order to be rinsed off.

 

“If I catch you traipsing through the house in those filthy boots and jodhpurs, then you are in trouble!” Erika called as she went to draw him a bath. Loki smirked as he went to go to take them off; clearly it would not do to incur the wrath of a woman, especially one such as Erika! He removed the dirty boots and put them on a drying rack so he could brush the dried mud off later, and peeled off his jodhpurs, which were caked in thick winter mud and stuck to his skin. He looked to see if there was a robe to wear to go upstairs but there wasn’t, so he shrugged and went through an archway into the kitchen, which he quickly crossed to jog up the stairs. He was getting quite cold now and the thought of a piping hot bath was too tempting to wait for; he could detect the faint aroma of his favourite scented bath foam and he strode straight in to the en-suite of his bedroom to see if it was ready. He smiled as he saw Erika leaning over the bath, which was about halfway full, swirling the water around to create a wonderfully foamy hot bath for him.

 

“Thank you Erika,” He said and without further ado he stepped out of his under clothing and made his way over to the bath to get in. As he climbed in and sank down into the delightful hot water, he was slightly puzzled to see her pull away quickly with a funny look on her face. _What was the matter with her?_ “Is something amiss, Erika?” He asked and her eyes lifted from the bubbles on the surface of the water to his, only to reveal an emotion he had least expected: fear. Yet it quickly vanished and she smiled briefly as she got to her feet, turned off the taps and went to fetch a towel for him.

“No!” She said brightly – too brightly he felt – and placed a large towel on a small chair which was next to the bath, “I am merely a bit chilled from the water I got on my clothes. I will go for a shower while you take your bath and then we can perhaps have a hot chocolate by the fire to warm our bones.”

“Why not jump in with me?” Asked Loki, “It is nice and hot and there is plenty of room.” Again there was a strange reaction from her… _why?_

“I think I will shower, Loki. It is quicker and I can get our clothes in the utility sink to soak sooner.” And with that she had gone, leaving Loki to lean back in the bath and relax while pondering on Erika’s reluctance to partake in something so simple as a bath together.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_It had all come flooding back._

 

The shock of finding Loki in the King’s suite that day back in Asgard, the violence with which he had forced her to draw the bath she had naively told him he needed and the humiliating way he had made her join him in it to bathe him thoroughly. Back here in their new home, it took every ounce of her will to try to cover it all with a veneer of cheerfulness before escaping from the en-suite of Loki’s bedroom to rush into her own to strip off her cold wet clothes and stand under a steaming hot shower, trying to banish the memories of the day she had first come into his life.

“For the sake of the Norns, Erika!” She whispered to herself harshly, “That was such a long time ago! He is completely different to how he was back then and you must forget such things ever happened.” Finally managing to calm herself down, she washed her hair with a lovely perfumed soap she had bought from the market a few days previously and, after drying herself with perhaps the softest, most luxurious towel she had ever owned, she put on some comfortable and warm nightwear and her cosy house robe. Winter was well on its way and although the house was well heated from the huge fireplace, it still got fairly chilly as night fell. She made her way downstairs to find Loki in his pyjamas already sitting on the sofa near the fire, and there were two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table next to it. He patted the cushion beside him and she curled up against him, feeling as if she was exactly where she should be, especially as he wrapped a strong arm around her and kissed her damp blonde curls.

 

“Feeling better?” He asked, handing her one of the drinks, which she sipped gratefully and delighted in the feel of the warm liquid going all the way down to her belly.

“Mmmm, much better, thank you. This is delicious!”

“Erika…?” Loki’s voice suddenly turned serious and Erika’s heart fluttered; _what was troubling him?_

“Yes?” She asked; her voice not much more than a whisper as she dreaded what he might say or ask. She sipped at her drink again, willing him to talk about something of little consequence. Hoping it would be anything but…

“Are you happy here? _Truly_ , I mean. I would hate to think that you have come here only to find that it was a mistake and that you cannot…”

“Yes, Loki. I am truly happy here. It is a wonderful place and so different to where we were…” Her voice tailed off: she did not want to talk too much about the Palace in case she triggered anything bad in Loki’s mind.

Loki placed his mug on the table and then gently took hers from her to put with it. Erika’s mouth went dry as she wondered why he was acting so seriously and then he was moving around and pulling her arm softly so that they could face each other a bit better.

“May I ask why you were upset by my suggestion in the bathroom? About bathing together? It is something we have done before, is it not? It is not an unusual activity, after all.” His voice was pitched low and full of concern, matched by the look in his eyes. Should she tell him the truth and risk him remembering something bad, or should she laugh it off? Deciding that neither option was a good one, Erika went with what her heart told her to do: tell him the truth of how she felt now.

 

Laughing softly in an attempt to cover her nerves, Erika shuffled around on the large sofa and curled her legs underneath her as she faced Loki and took hold of his hands. She stared down at them and stroked them; the fingers were becoming just a little coarser than the pale elegant digits they had been when Loki had been the arrogant and somewhat vain Prince in Asgard and were now taking on a new character altogether. She took one hand up and held it between hers, hugging it against the soft warm robe which covered her heart. She could not quite bring herself to raise her eyes to look into Loki’s, fearing that if she did then she might cry before she could say what she wanted to say. The Loki with whom she was living now was a much more patient and caring person and was ready to listen to what she had to tell him and in a strange way that made him harder to talk to.

 

“I… I confess I am… struggling, Loki.” His other hand came up to join hers where they were wrapped around the first and a lump formed in her throat. _Spit it out Erika!_ She admonished herself.

“Struggling…?” He sounded puzzled… and so sad! It was almost more than she could take, but she forced back the tears and carried on. “Yes, and I do not know how to explain myself. I wish you could just read my mind and understand exactly what I am trying to say!” _Could he read her mind?_ It was not something she had discussed with The Vision and she was suddenly worried. Surely he could not? He would be able to see… Erika tried to stop her chain of thought before she might give everything away in one go, but realised it was folly. She had thought about their situation on many occasions since she had got here, so Loki had probably had plenty of opportunity to glean what was going on if indeed he could.

“I do not make a habit of doing that anymore, you know that.” Loki stroked her cheek, but she was still unable to look at him.

“Of course… I apologise. I simply… it is just that… I really love you Loki, but I need to…”

“Take things slowly?”  
“Take things slowly.” Erika looked up into the kindest and most caring eyes she had ever chanced to see and a sob escaped her as she drew in a breath of surprise and… relief? Loki’s face was so full of concern that her heart almost broke to see it. _Oh by the Gods he was so captivating!_

“I understand, Erika.” His velvet voice soothed her nerves and she found herself calming down as he continued to look deep into her eyes, the corners of his own crinkling as he smiled “You have nothing to be worried about. I just wanted to be sure that you were not having any regrets about your decision to join me here out in the back of beyond with little to no contact with the ones we have left behind. It was a huge decision and one that I believe I found easier to make than you did? And I promise you, the offer to bathe together had no hidden agenda.”

 

As Loki continued to reassure her, Erika felt her worry subside and she kissed the fingers of the hand she still held, nodding at what he had said. They moved into a more comfortable position side by side on the plump and comfortable old sofa, and Erika adopted her usual place of snuggling against Loki’s chest as he wrapped his arm around her, but tonight he stroked her hair as he recounted a story about learning how to juggle at a fair when he was a child. The warmth of the fire and his tender touch while his calming voice washed over her caused Erika to relax and eventually drift off into a restful sleep, the drink of hot chocolate completely forgotten.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Loki stared deep into the glowing embers as he sat on the sofa and cradled Erika on his lap, stroking her beautiful curls which were highlighted with oranges and golds from the dying fire. She was fast asleep, having unknowingly succumbed to his Sedir once again. Her discomfort had troubled him on a very deep level; he did not like to see her that way and his first instinct was to comfort her, so he had sent out soothing and soporific suggestion to her subconscious to try to help her calm down. He had known, of course, that this move from the City had been a huge undertaking – especially for her. Their life back there had caused awful problems between them and he knew that he had definitely done things which had hurt her deeply. The sessions with The Vision had included certain techniques to impair the recall of selected events in his memory so that they would not cause tension between them and it was something that Loki had agreed to because The Vision had told him that Erika was at a point of such deep forgiveness that she did not want him to carry the guilt over into their new life. He sighed and looked down at the sleeping girl. Did he really deserve her? Did she deserve him? He hoped he would prove – here in their new life – that he was worthy of her love and devotion and that he felt the same way about her. That she was treading warily in their personal life was not a problem to him at the moment; it meant they were able to spend time learning more about each other and doing activities which were building a stronger relationship for them before any of that got in the way.

 

Scooping Erika up, Loki carefully carried her to the first floor and into her bedroom, where he laid her on her bed and drew a blanket up over her, tucking the side in against the chill of the night. Although he looked forward to the time when they would eventually share a bed together, for now he was content to simply spend his waking hours with her in this new life, in a new place and with all their long years ahead of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Been a hot one here this week folks, so stay safe, keep hydrated and remember only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!
> 
> Nothing quite like a little heart-to-heart to keep a relationship healthy. Communication kids: it's the only way to do it.


End file.
